Hub reopens three weeks after fire

Chris Brown, owner of The Hub Baja Grill in Siesta Village, reported that the restaurant passed all its inspections Tuesday and was ready to reopen for lunchtime Wednesday, 22 days after an early-morning fire caused extensive smoke damage in the building.

No one was injured in the Feb.1 incident.

A malfunctioning cooler caused the fire, which was confined to the kitchen,, the Sarasota County Fire Department reported. Employees of The Cottage, an adjacent restaurant Brown also owns, spotted smoke coming from The Hub and called 911.

Brown said construction crews gutted the building “and put it back together … They worked 17- to 18-hour days, seven days a week.”